


hold that nail for the hammer stroke

by loveglasses, Zia21



Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Abandoned Areas, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Churches & Cathedrals, F/F, Femslash February, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Music, Not Canon Compliant, Piano, Urban Exploration, Useless Sapphics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29158278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveglasses/pseuds/loveglasses, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zia21/pseuds/Zia21
Summary: They never expected to meet each other in the middle of an abandoned church. But they're trying to find the way back anyways.
Relationships: Eva Kviig Mohn/Noora Amalie Sætre
Kudos: 4





	1. Eva

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva met a beautiful girl when she decided to explore an abandoned church.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written with the lovely [Zia21](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zia21)! the noora to my eva, or perhaps the eva to my noora (we haven't quite decided yet). we really hope that you enjoy!

Eva had never done Urbex before.

The concept was simple, urban exploration. She was going to visit a long-abandoned site that had fallen into disrepair in the face of the city. The decayed opulence of Oslo.

Today she was visiting an abandoned church. It was broad daylight, so nothing scary could happen to her. Eva didn’t believe in ghosts, but she believed in people, and people were scary sometimes.

She should have gone in a group and asked a friend, but she had already decided to do this by herself, so there was no point in chickening out now.

Life. There was life all around her, people walking past her, a parking lot that was filled with cars, bicycles whizzing by on the street while the cars struggled to make it past the light. Everything was alive. Active. The day was bright against everything and made everything more alive. Lights and music and talking,  _ life _ .

The church building held no life to it at all. It looked like a corpse in the middle of a crowd. The additions to it weren’t purposeful like the buildings around it. 

"Here goes nothing!" Eva whispered to herself. 

She pushed the door of the building open just enough so that she could slip through it and she entered.

There was a sense of grandeur in that church, fallen greatness perhaps.

She looks through the rubble of the church. Apparently, in the 1980s, this church had suffered through a minor earthquake and although the surrounding area recovered, the members of the church had decided it was time to move, anyways. It was a shame, most churches Eva could think of were not this beautiful. 

Eva heard faint piano music in the distance. She was entranced by it, the faint angriness of the music she could touch from tens of meters away. It was life within the definition of death, past opulence decaying away but with a tended-to fire inside. She knew that it was stupid to head towards it. Music most likely meant there were people and people meant danger but Eva didn’t care. It enticed her and she had control over her life for once so she decided to go with what she wanted because she never had the chance to. Because she was able to. 

To the left were tables and chairs for church activities. Eva could see doors with graffiti in the distance. Those doors most likely led to offices and related to boring administrative things from the 1960s that also probably had graffiti, which was something Eva didn't want to think about. To the right were the pews. From the spot where she was at, she couldn't see the stained glass windows, but logically, this was where they had to be. 

Eva was never religious. Her parents never forced it onto her and they had never gone to church or done anything to do with Christianity, so naturally, she had done the same thing as them. But there was no way to describe the colored light from the rays of the sun going through the stained glass but holy. It was holy in a way and as Eva stepped closer to the pews, she could hear the music getting louder and louder and she could hear it far better now. It was angry, yet tired, and even though the piano was out of tune and Eva wasn't able to see the performer, she could feel the emotion of the music. But she trudged on anyway. 

The light of the stained glass illuminated some of the broken-down pews. Eva looked up at them and they were large depictions of Jesus and other Christian things that she had no idea about. In front of the pews, there was a slightly raised wooden platform that acted as a stage. That was where Eva saw the piano. But more importantly, she saw the person playing on it. 

The person playing the piano had straightened and cropped blonde hair. They were wearing a white sweater with a pattern of small, dark-colored stripes and dark blue jeans, along with ankle boots with just enough heel that it would make an audible click were it to hit the ground. And they were beautiful, a vision of passion and life in a church that was dead. This wasn't a tending fire, it was a blaze. And Eva's heart, her emotions, and everything, they were caught by the fire and burning. Eva got closer and she realized that this was probably a woman and fuck, everything was better because when was the last time she had been in a long-term relationship with a woman? She approached the piano closely and carefully as to not interrupt the woman playing the piece, who seemed to be repeating the piece, or at least a section, over and over again as her fingers stretched and pressed on the piano. Eva sat in a pew close to the front of the raised platform and watched. 

"What are you playing?" Eva asked the woman. 

"Just a prelude," the woman replied, "It’s by Chopin. Opus 28, number 14."

"It sounds angry. Are you - are you angry about something?" Eva asked.

The woman smiled sadly. "I’m angry about a lot, I guess. Angry at everything. Angry at everything that I can’t control."

They endured the silence for a few moments. It was almost deafening compared to the sounds of the piano and their talking, but it was comfortable in a way.

"I’m Eva," Eva offered.

"Nice to meet you. Noora," the woman, no,  _ Noora _ responded, offering her hand to Eva from the raised platform. Eva rose from her seat and walked towards Noora in order to take it, her steps echoing throughout the church when she reached the wooden raised platform. Each step felt like a spark in her veins and fire lit from each spark. She walked slowly and hesitantly but Noora waited. Noora waited until Eva, finally, intertwined her hand with Noora's. Noora shook it and as soon as Eva had clasped, societal standards forced her to let go. To Eva, it seemed as if their hands fell from each other in slow motion. 

"I have to go," Noora stated suddenly, "Work."

Eva smiled sympathetically. "Okay. See you soon, I hope."

"I want to see you again," Noora replied, "I really wish I do."

"Me too," Eva responded, "Will you be back?"

Noora suddenly grinned and winked in a clever way that meant the world to Eva. "Maybe."

* * *

Eva had spent the past few days cursing herself for not getting Noora’s number. How could she meet a gorgeous girl playing piano and forget to ask for her number? While Eva had considered looking Noora up on Facebook, she didn’t have Noora’s last name, and besides, Eva was so awkward with Facebook messages. She would probably send something stupid. After a few days, Eva had come to terms with the idea that she might never see Noora again. Maybe Noora was just a gift from God, someone that only appeared in the church. The church. Of course, Eva should go back to the church. Worst case scenario, Eva didn’t find Noora. Best case? She would get the number of the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. 

Actually, the worst-case scenario might be that Eva would be an idiot and go to the church at night when the air was tinged with a hint of horror.  Unfortunately for her, that was the thing that she had decided to do.  Eva hesitated at the door of the dilapidated church. She was strongly considering turning around and driving away, but then she heard a faint  happy sort of  melody emerging from the church. It sounded like a piano, which either meant either some other person had broken into an abandoned church and had the urge to play the piano or that Noora was back. Praying for the latter option, Eva pushed open the door. The music halted. The church was dimly lit, and it took a second for Eva’s eyes to adjust. When they did, she was greeted with the lovely sight of Noora, sitting on the piano bench, and facing her. 

"Hi!" Eva greeted. She internally cursed herself for her visible eagerness. 

"Hi!" Noora smiled. "You know, I’ve come back to this church every night, but you never showed up."

"Why did you come back?" Eva asked, unable to process that Noora would actually wait in this church just to speak with her. 

Noora chuckled. " We made a promise, no ?" 

" We did. "

"I was  hoping  to, uh, get your number. Unless you would prefer to talk via messenger pigeons?" Noora’s eyes twinkled at the mischievous joke she had just made.

"No, no, cell phones are fine," Eva assured her. 

"I’m glad." 

They exchanged numbers, and Eva felt a thrill run up her spine. She would finally be able to stay in contact with Noora. Eva would be able to flirt properly with Noora, maybe even ask her on a date.  She looked at the name on her phone. Noora had put her full name on her phone, "Noora Amalie Sætre." Eva had also put her full name into Noora’s phone, but there were a lot of Evas throughout Norway. There had to be quite a few Nooras too, but she had never met one before.

But even after the numbers had been exchanged, Noora made no move to exit the church. Eva was painfully cognizant of how awkward it would be if she left first, so she sat in the nearest pew to the piano. A comfortable silence enveloped the pair like a blanket. Eventually, Eva asked the first question that came to mind. 

"What were you playing today?"

"I was playing the waltz from the Adventures of Ivan. It’s expressive and it’s fun to play, so I decided to see if I still had it," Noora replied, "I miss playing piano. I haven’t played on a real one since I was in university."

"Why do you like playing the piano so much?"

Noora leaned back, a look of deep consideration across her face. 

"Music is everything to me. It expresses my feelings in a clearer and deeper way than I ever could verbally. When I feel angry, I play piano. When I’m sad, I play piano. When I’m horrified at the world, I play piano. It’s like a form of therapy. Music is emotion." 

Noora continued, this time leaning forward to make eye contact with Eva, "Because music is emotional for me, it’s also my love language. When I’m too tongue-tied to explain how much I feel, a simple melody can suffice. Music has enveloped so much emotion. All the pain, the joy, the horrors, the anguish, and the love that humans have experienced is expressed in music. All of the melodies carry the weight of humanity." 

Eva was stunned. Maybe she didn’t feel as tethered to music as Noora did, but she connected with Noora’s explanation. The emotion in Noora’s eyes when she had met Eva’s had been electrifying. Even though it was getting incredibly late, all Eva wanted to do was sit in the haunted church and talk to Noora. She didn’t care if it was about music, she just needed to hear this amazing woman’s thoughts on anything. 

As if she could read her thoughts, Noora stood up and advanced towards the door. Eva jerked out of her seat and followed her at a distance. When they emerged from the church, the cool night air of Oslo  danced on Eva’s shoulders and  made  her  shiver. Just before reaching her car, Noora turned and locked eyes with Eva.

"I’ll be sure to text you, I don’t want to play in the church alone. I really appreciate the audience."

Eva wanted to offer a witty retort about how Noora’s audience was composed of ghosts, but her hopeless sapphic brain failed her. All she could offer was a soft "Sure." 

Noora grinned then, shook her head slightly, as if to inquire to the world, "Who would have known?" and then disappeared into the dark Norwegian night, leaving Eva stunned and smiling in the cold.

* * *

Eva stared down at the bright screen at the phone and looked at the damn cursor blinking against the contrast of the blankness of the text box and the message history. It blinked every second in and out of existence, fading away just to pop up one moment later. She could almost hear it,  _ blink, blink, blink _ , and it drove her insane.

_ Hei how are you _

She deleted the draft. It was too casual, too informal to bear the weight of the message that she needed to send to Noora. Before yesterday, they hadn’t talked for five days and there were so many things that went on in those five days. 

_ Hi! It’s Eva. How are you doing? _

She cursed underneath her breath. Of course Noora would know who it was. They had literally put each others’ numbers into their phones in contacts. She tried to delete all of the message, but her finger slipped. It slipped all the way up to the send button and she accidentally clicked it. 

For a second, she felt relief. But she had just sent that stupid message and she was panicking now, she was panicking so much.

_ Sorry that was supposed to be a sentence! I meant to say hi and ask you how you were doing. _

Eva hit send, even though it was cringey and a terrible first impression to have made on that gorgeous girl she had met in the middle of the church. She leaned back on the couch and sighed in nervousness. 

What had she done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title from "spirit cold" by tall heights.


	2. Noora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noora met a beautiful girl while she was practicing piano.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know this chapter says it's by me but we cowrote parts of each chapter, so it was really written by both of us. enjoy!

Noora was not always so angry at the world. She used to have hope for change, used to protest, and use her voice as a beacon of light for the future. She hoped to work in journalism to uncover the truth for other people around the world. 

Noora had read and she had done digging and she found out that the world wasn't as easy to fix as she thought it was.  _ That was fine _ , she had initially reasoned, but it was not fine. Everything had twisted so many times that she couldn't help make it perfect. It wasn't even perfect to start with. 

Noora read manifestos and experiences and cookbooks and remedies and learned more about the world than she had learned in all of the years of her life. At first, she had wanted to fight, wanted to at least  _ try _ , but there were so many things she had to do to try that it would take her life apart. And she had decided, bit by bit, that there was nothing she could do other than give up.

Didn’t mean that she still couldn’t be angry about it. 

So one day, she decided to go into an abandoned church and let out all of her frustrations on the little piano there. She still practiced from time to time on her little keyboard at home but keyboards just weren’t the same as real pianos. And she kept coming at her lunch breaks during the job in journalism that she once dreamed of and now had become slightly disillusioned from (though she still put her heart into her work nonetheless, she still wanted this but it made her skeptical from time to time). And she had met a beautiful girl named Eva who had rocked her world and made her want to fight again. Noora was too smitten to get Eva’s number but she had gone back not to let her anger out but to let someone in, and she was successful after a few times. 

And then she had gotten the text and she never thought she would have melted so much. 

Ever since Noora had become desensitized to the world, she had used sarcasm and irony as her main points of humor: points that jabbed and were quick to deliver. But with Eva, she could genuinely find herself being happy. She hadn’t felt that way in a long time, not since far before  _ russ _ . 

_ H _ , Eva sent.

_ Sorry that was supposed to be a sentence! I meant to say hi and ask you how you were doing. _

Noora grinned at her phone when she saw the new text messages. She wasn’t quite sure how to respond, so she went with what felt natural to her.

She first sent a little greeting. 

_ hi! _

Then, she considered her next message and decided to respond to what Eva had asked.  _ i’m doing okay, how about you?  _

_ I’d be better with you _ , Eva replied, and oh shit. 

Eva really fucking knew how to get to Noora’s heartstrings, didn’t she? It almost hurt how off-guard Noora was caught.

(It could be platonic, a small voice in the back of her head reminded her. She resolved to ignore that voice.)

_ what’s got you down? _ she sent instead.

The three dots indicating Eva’s reply appeared and then disappeared. They suddenly reappeared as quickly as they had disappeared and soon Noora felt a little vibration in her hands indicating a new message.

_ I don’t know _ , Eva responded.

Noora sent a sad face, one with the colon and the left facing parenthesis.

_ sorry to hear that _ , she added. 

_ I have to get to work now _ , Eva texted,  _ Talk to u soon! :) _

Noora stared at that little smiley face at the end of the message. She had no idea what it could mean. Was Eva following along with what Noora was saying? Was that just a friendship smiley? Well, logically, it had to be, they had just met a few days ago and they hadn’t even spent an hour in each other’s company. She groaned and flopped down on her bed. Luckily, she had this day off because her work forced her to take vacation days, but she didn’t know what to do other than obsess over the text messages that Eva sent. Logically, she could doomscroll or force herself to clean a part of her house, but she had an angry sort of energy, one that couldn’t just be sucked out of her by bad news or by the scent of artificial lemon in the kitchen. 

She looked towards her keyboard, looking sad and lonely on top of her desk. It was a bit dusty, Noora noted, and she could do with a bit of cleaning throughout the house even if she didn’t want to do it. So, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

* * *

_ U wanna meet up sometime soon? _

After cleaning up the bathroom (the most unpleasant part of cleaning), Noora washed her hands thoroughly and looked over at her phone, which she hadn’t done the whole time since she was cleaning pretty well and didn’t want to get her phone dirty. She looked over the new text and didn’t think much of it until she looked at the sender. Eva. Of course it was Eva. 

She texted out a reply.

_ sure. same place? _

Noora walked towards her bedroom and sat down on her bed, hunching over her phone like it was her lifeline. It basically was at this point, but she didn’t need to be self-aware. Self-awareness was for people who had their life together and who were totally satisfied with everything. Or maybe not, but that was the excuse that Noora had decided to use for herself and the excuse that was working pretty well for her so far. 

She got a faint ding from her phone when Eva responded to her text about two minutes later. Noora tapped on the text and expanded it back into their messaging conversation. 

_ Yeah of course! :D _

Noora grinned at the little enthusiastic smiley face at the end of Eva’s text. She typed out her response and sent it over to Eva.

_ cool! what day and time works for you? i’m free all of today so later tonight works for me, but i’m also free this sunday all day. i have a car so i can pick you up! _

_ Sunday works for me _ , Eva responded,  _ The holy day for an abandoned church seems fitting. 5pm work for you? _

Noora switched over to her calendar tab and marked the occasion in her calendar and the reminders she needed before she would actually leave the house before responding to Eva’s message.

_ yup! _

_ Cool _ , Eva sent,  _ See u then _

Noora typed a heart emoji over, refusing to think of the possible implications that it had and starting to think of what she would do on Sunday.

* * *

"You know," Eva grumbled, "I don’t know if we should come here anymore. The third time’s the charm, after all. Our luck is running out." 

_ I’ve been here all the time since we last saw each other _ , Noora decided not to say. 

Instead, she said something else.  "You find this spooky? It’s just the church. Besides, didn’t you want to go here?" 

Noora chuckled , trying to show a sign of casualness to stave off the vulnerability that she knew that she was going to show in just a moment.

"Well yeah, for old times’ sake. Maybe I do find this place spooky, but that’s only because I’ve seen, like, one whole horror movie so I’m very aware of how it goes!" 

"Don’t worry, you have me to protect you," Noora said,  feeling herself grin and  nudging Eva with her shoulder. "But I get it, we should get out of here before Casper shows up." 

"It's not Casper I'm worried about," Eva muttered as she leaned slightly into Noora’s touch.

There was nothing more Noora wanted to do at that moment than reach out to Eva to tell her it was all going to be okay like it had been before. 

They made their way towards the church’s exit, as Noora made exaggerated glances at the shadowy rafters,  making a show of  trying to spot any thing before  it  could spook her partner. Wait.  Partner? Noora pretended to her external self like she meant it as in a partner-in-crime.

But deep down, she knew that she meant it as a romantic partner. Like a girlfriend.  Noora hadn’t even asked Eva out on a proper date (because playing piano in a haunted church isn’t exactly romantic), but the thought couldn’t seem to leave her head  now that she had thought of it . 

While Eva walked nonchalantly  through the pews, looking up at the stained glass portraits of God and its misadventures , Noora paused at the old piano. It’s almost regained a layer of dust from how long it’s been kept unplayed. She knew that she should just tell Eva how she felt, just say those damn words that were caught in her throat. But Noora had never been good at expressing her feelings verbally, only through writing and something else. So, she decided to confess to Eva the best way she knew how. 

Noora sat down at the piano and began to play the opening notes for one of her favorite songs.  This was one that had come years ago and she had spent the last few nights on her keyboard practicing for Eva.  Eva stopped in her tracks and turned, focusing on the melody emerging from the piano. When she finished, Noora looked up expectantly. Eva grinned. She stood mutely for a minute, before making an inquiry to Noora.

"What song is this?" 

Noora looked up and answered, "It’s the ‘March of the Women.’ A piano arrangement. I, uh, I arranged it myself." 

"I like it a lot, you play it with such emotion." 

Noora gave her a sad smile. If only she knew. If only she knew how much emotion Noora was pouring into this one song. Each note chanted the same thing, _ I love you. I love you. _

" I think we should get out of here. I swear I heard applause from one of the pews," Eva whispered conspiratorially. 

Noora was confused. Hadn’t Eva heard the confession entwined in the melody? Hadn’t she heard Noora, revealing her heart to this girl she barely knew but was already so in love with? But she forced herself to think, to consider Eva and everything she knew about the woman. Noora knew Eva didn’t hear the same things, wasn’t the same as Noora. But that was what attracted her to Eva in the first place, wasn’t it? And so, maybe she couldn’t hear the confession if it wasn’t verbal. 

Noora realized that she was going to have to be brave and just say it. If she didn’t want to lose what was potentially the best thing to ever happen to her, she had to be brave. 

"Eva?" Noora started, causing Eva to pause at the exit. 

"Yes, Noora?" 

"I have something I need to say to you." 

"Is it bad?" Eva teased.  Her eyes danced as she said the words and after she said them too and they invited Noora despite her hesitations.

She  grimaced, feeling all of her emotions swirling to the surface. Her heart was beating out of her chest, her spine felt like it had dissolved.  _ Be brave. Be brave.  _

"I’m in love with you. And I know we’ve only known each other for a little while but I needed to say that. I needed you to hear it. To hear me."

Eva blinked. Noora cringed. __

_ You’ve ruined it now _ , she thought miserably, _ Should’ve left it unspoken. Should’ve let her make the first move.  _ _ You shouldn’t have treated her like one of your causes. _

Then, slowly, Eva advanced towards Noora, until there was barely any space between them. Yet Eva leaned ever closer. Noora couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. 

"Noora…" The words came out of Eva's mouth slow and sweet, like syrup. "Can I… can I kiss you?" 

Noora let out a breath. She stared at Eva. 

"Um, is that a yes? Consent is key," Eva inquired. 

Noora finally got her brain to work. 

"Yes, Eva Kviig Mohn. Please kiss me." 

With a smile, Eva leaned in and kissed Noora. Cliche as it was, Noora could have sworn she felt sparks. At the very least, she felt Eva’s ecstatic smile, and maybe Eva was bright enough to be Noora’s spark. 

The kiss lasted for only a few seconds before a loud crash startled the women. 

"You know, I think my previous suggestion is still relevant. Let’s get out of here before  somebody  kills us." 

Noora nodded and the two rushed out to Noora’s car. 

Noora spoke, "So… do you want to come home with me? I can make dinner  for us ."

"Only if you’re going to play me a song." 

"Of course, any song you like."

_ Anything for you _ , Noora thought.

Eva  beamed  as Noora reversed the car out of the nearby parking lot. As she drove home, Noora contemplated on how she got so lucky. Maybe it was good that Noora expressed her love for Eva in a way that wasn’t musical. But Noora spent the entire drive choosing a song to play for Eva, one that perfectly captured the essence of their love. Judging by the delighted expression on Eva’s face, she chose the right one. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading! if you enjoyed, please leave a kudos and/or a comment below!


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